How to Shape Vibrant Streets?
When I was younger, I lived on a quiet street in downtown Manaus. The residential street was peaceful but largely uneventful - except on Tuesdays. On Tuesdays, the adjacent street, Rua Coronel Salgado, transformed entirely, bursting into life with a weekly farmer’s market, called "Feira Intinerante." Farmers and vendors from the city and the state of Amazonas would gather selling fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, and of course street food. This market energized the neighborhood in a remarkable way.
I remember strolling the market streets with my mother and brother, sampling fresh fruits, absorbing the sights and sounds. Even after returning home the excitement lingered; I'd place a small stool by my window, climb atop it, and watch visitors walk past with loaded bags, and workers navigating hand carts piled with bananas and other goods. This weekly event is a dear memory of my childhood and profoundly shaped my appreciation for urban vibrancy.
The vibrancy brought about by such events is known as "street vitality.” Generating and maintaining street vitality is a common key priority on contemporary urban renewal agendas. Therefore understanding the mechanisms of prediction and facilitation of street vitality remain very relevant in urban research.
Unlike my childhood experience, where vitality was fleeting, planners today aim for continuously vibrant streets. While trade is undoubtedly a gravitational force creating vibrant environments, recent research reveals there are additional critical factors at play. What makes streets consistently vibrant?
The energy that came to our neighborhood on market days is what urbanists call “street vitality,” that feeling when a place truly comes alive. Unlike my childhood experience, where liveliness happened once a week, the common target today in urban strategies is to generate and maintain vibrant streets all the time. While trade is undoubtedly a gravitational force that creates vibrant environments, what are other factors at play? What makes a street com alive day after day?
A recent study by Anastasiia Galaktionova and Aura-Luciana Istrate, titled "Assessing street vitality using functional density as a proxy," provides valuable insights into this question. The authors apply an insightful data-driven approach to measure and compare street vitality across ten European cities, uncovering fresh insights on how to measure, analyze and strategically plan for street vitality. Their findings confirm what urbanists have long observed: morphological factors like block size, mixed-use land allocation and street layout really play a role in facilitating lively streets.
In this research, functional density serves as a practical measurement for street vitality. Functional density is measured here by the variety and concentration of unique points of interest (POIs) like cafes, shops, offices, residences, and public amenities per street segment. Using open-source OSM (OpenStreetMaps) data, the authors curated, grouped and classified the data according to classes, measuring the density of POI in different classes by street segment length.
The study's comparative framework is particularly insightful. The cities are compared between themselves, but the authors also explore two distinct scales: city-wide and neighborhood-level (in the most active areas). The different scales highlight interesting differences in urban characteristics necessary for vibrant streets.
At a city-wide scale, longer street segments appear significantly linked with greater functional density, suggesting major thoroughfares attract diverse activities naturally. Interestingly, at this analysis-scale, increased building density doesn't always enhance vitality. High building density can sometimes reduce functional diversity, especially if zoning laws encourage homogeneous land use. Predominantly residential areas, like the quiet street of my childhood, are unsurprisingly less vibrant, confirming commercial spaces stand out as key contributors to lively city districts.
Conversely, when analyzing vibrant areas at the neighborhood scale, shorter street segments and higher building density (often these bustling central areas sport mixed-use buildings) are associated with higher functional density. This finding echoes the influential ideas of urbanist Jane Jacobs (and Jan Gehl), who famously argued that smaller blocks, and diversity of building uses, foster richer street life.
Galaktionova and Istrate's findings reinforce these established principles and offer some important, data-backed nuances for today’s urban planners and policymakers. Key points include:
High individual housing density and high industrial density negatively impacts functional density, reducing the diversity and concentration of points of interest (POIs).
High residential building density, conversely, has a generally positive correlation with higher functional density in already vibrant areas.
High commercial building density consistently contributes positively to street.
Interestingly, morphological characteristics such as street length and building densities have a more consistent influence on functional diversity compared to transport-related factors, especially within already vibrant local areas.
The research was excellent, highly relevant and insightful, but a few minor aspects left me wanting more. While the street length was thoroughly addressed, street width, was not explored. Since street width is another determinant factor in pedestrian comfort and activity, considering street proportion could provide richer guidance for future urban design.
Additionally, the study categorizes buildings by residential, commercial, sports, offices, and industrial uses. Cultural and institutional venues, such as libraries, schools, playgrounds, and public art installations, are present but do not have their own category. A cultural density category could greatly enrich the study.
Lastly, since vibrant streets are closely tied to economic dynamism, extending the research to include economic data could significantly enhance accuracy and planning relevance, the authors themselves recommended.
In conclusion, the study highlights the importance of tailoring urban vitality strategies for different scales. City-wide plans benefit from strengthening commercial corridors and transport accessibility, while at the neighborhood scale, shorter blocks, mixed uses, and pedestrian-friendly spaces become essential. Generating and sustaining the incredible liveliness of my childhood’s farmer’s market might be challenging, thoughtful adjustments to the morphological characteristics of the urban spaces can certainly facilitate the emergence of street vitality, ultimately improving the quality of life for city residents.
Resources:
Galaktionova, A., & Istrate, A.-L. (2025). Assessing street vitality using functional density as a proxy. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083251353551
Access the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23998083251353551